Comments

The Matter of 4 Wives

Mizanur Rahman

Ottawa, OntarioCanada

As usual , Mr.Fatemolla has come up with yet another gem from his stock of
knowledge on matters related to the Quraan and Hadith. Contrary to popular
belief , he has found a strange ambiguity in the holy scriptures that would
allow the Muslim men to have 4 wives at a time, yet the Prophet himself would
not let his son-in-law Hazrat Ali to take a second wife while married to his
beloved daughter Fatima. So what is an average Muslim male supposed to do ? To
take advantage of the Quraanic indulgence of 4 wives or to do what the Prophet
wanted Ali to do, namely to refrain from taking a second wife ? One is a
Quraanic verse and the other is a Prophetic wish-in apparent contradiction with
each other.

Who says the Islamic laws are easy for the ordinary person to follow? What
can one make of a law anyway that seems to say two different things at the same
time ? I was further intrigued by the astounding revelation that there was a
severe condition imposed on the practice of taking multiple wives ,namely, that
the woman involved must be an "orphan", that is, a destitute who has
no chance of survival other than marriage to a kind-hearted Muslim man. That
puts the Islamic decree of 4 wives in a more positive light, almost a noble one
that one can feel proud about. But, in practice, as perpetuated by centuries of
Mullah-dominated Muslim societies all over the world ,multiple marriages hardly
occur due to the man's goodness of the heart. In fact ,the practice has been,
for almost 1500 years, to put the perfectly healthy, normal and cheerfully
blossoming young women through lives of total misery, hopelessness and
humiliation, and not the other way around.

I have heard and read people say all sorts of things about Fatemolla-that he
is an atheist ,he is anti-Islam, a pro-western Islam-basher. And yet, I have not
heard him making any derogatory comment about Islam based on western sources
alone. He always quoted from the Quraan itself and from the vast array of Sahi
Hadith that adorn the shelves of his library. If he has to be labeled by any
catchy epithet I'd say he is a pro-Truth person, as are the other frequent
contributors to the NFB, like Ali Sina,Kamran Mirza,Jamal Hasan and so on.
Instead of pro-Truth I should perhaps use pro-Fact, because Truth is a very
elusive thing, in fact, a very relative thing. Truth for one person may not be
truth for others.

In matters of religion that is definitely the case. But facts are facts. And
what Fatemolla and others present on the NFB are plain facts gathered from the
Holy Books of Islam themselves, and not from any distorted versions of them
found in western literature. Do they feel happy that they expose some of the
less-than-glorious things from the scriptures ? I don't think so. In fact it
hurts them deeply to find out that their faith was based on a set of fictitious
tales rather than a set of facts. Nobody wants to be a disbeliever. It is like
the roof blown away from over your head. But a reasonable person always strives
to justify his/her faith by logical arguments. So the Fatemollas of NFB feel
obligated to their moral conscience to seek the truth from the documented facts
and present them to the readers as they are.

They are neither pro- nor anti-Islam. They are just looking at the facts as
described by the great men and women of Islam itself. Apart from their own
intellectual and moral obligation to themselves I think they have an obligation
to the curious readers to tell what they know without feeling intimidated by the
strong arm tactics of the Islamic establishment.

Date:

20 Apr 2001

Time:

10:36:32

Comments

“Not all Islamic rulings can be implemented at any given time and place.
For example, the law of the cutting of the hands and feet due to theft, can
not be implemented on society, until society has reached close to spiritual
perfection (which is not the case today), and the reastablishment of the
Islamic leadership (The Khilafah or Caliphate, which was destroyed in
1924).”

Excuse me??!! When society approaches spiritual perfection, it wouldn't be
necessary to implement such punishments!

Mosab Rayan's comments remind me of comments made by a Lithuanian convert
to some muddled form of Shi'ite Islam who was an interloper on Hindu
discussion forums. He argued that sex with captive women was not rape, but
that rule couldn't be implemented until some spiritual Iman arrives.

Date:

17 Apr 2001

ISAFARB TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

I couldn't concur more with what you've written regarding Ali Sina's penchant
for hyperboly. I have great admiration for the man and his efforts to expose the
fallacies of the Quran and the moral turpitude of Muhammed. I dont even mind the
interjection of emotionalism in his passionate appeals for the rejection of what
he terms the cult of Islam. But there must be a self-imposed standard with which
to conduct an argument without descending down the road of demogoguery.
"The Quran says only one thing...KILL, KILL, KILL!" This is the kind
of excess I'm referring to. The Quran does indeed exhort the faithful to
"smite the unbelievers." He is erudite enough to utilize the
theological arguments at his disposal without resorting to such over-statement.

I was also disappointed by his enthusiastic advocacy of the essay 'The
Steep Climb", written by an American who flirted with the idea of
becoming a Muslim. It is a rambling letter that takes forever to get where its
going and its author's repudiation of Islam can hardly be considered
authoritative. Perhaps we've over-estimated Mr. Sina.

Very well done on your truthful site. We need such information more than
anything else after centuries of superstitious propaganda to grow as humanity.
Here is a site that I think you should include in your links:

I can't tell you what an important job you are doing to enlighten humanity. We
need this site to be translated to Persian for future.

Well done and thank you very, very much for your efforts.
I wish you the best.

Yours
Koroush

Date:

11 Apr 2001

Time:

17:22:47

Comments

ANOTHER ARAB FREETHINKER SPEAKS:

Although I am no longer a Muslim, I still enjoy listening to the Koran
recitation by the voice of Al Shaikh Mustafa Ismail. I have a large collection
of his tapes and I listen to them quite often. I found Surat Al Namal (Ants)
particularly amusing and perhaps down right funny. It talks about how Sulaiman
was walking down the valley of the ants. One ant was warning the other ants and
was saying "get down to your homes lest Sulaiman and his soldiers destroy
you while they are unaware". Sulaiman, who understands the language of the
ants, laughed and smiled at what they were saying.

You will find these stories and much more in the Koran beautifully described
and the reading by Mustafa Ismail make them even more beautiful. Great stories
for kids, dont you think so.

There are also good adult stories. The story of Yosef is one that is
particularly erotic. I know that most of these stories was borrowed from
previous works by Jewish authors. But the Islamic edition is far superior from a
literary point of view. I may be biased because Arabic is my mother tongue and
so I have a taste for Arabic language literature. One of my favorite Om Kalthoum
songs are Nahg El Burda which is purely a religious song.

I like my Islamic cultural heritage and I enjoy it. Of course I am not taking
any of it seriously. I understand why people still cling to their belief. They
simply need it. I have nothing to offer these people because what they need is
not the truth, they need to believe in something to ease their anxiety and their
fear from death. If religion makes them feel good, let them. Where I draw the
line is when they start to interfere in my own life. Fortunately, this is rather
difficult because I no longer live in a Muslim country.

There may be some usefulness of ritualistic Islam.

Many of the readers of this site might have visited Ali Sina's page. Ali
Sina
himself has contributed a number of articles for his web site. A remarkable one
is about the cultist nature of Islam. He was
enquiring if Islam a religion or
cult. After reading his mind-boggling essay I was thinking deeply about this
unique query. I talked to some American friends of mine. A significant
percentage of African-Americans have some sympathetic view toward Islam. Maybe
Islam has non-European facade, may be Islam comes across as a more egalitarian
religion. Or may be Nations of Islam could reach the underdogs of society.

One
of my friends, an African-American is a Christian. I give him some insight
regarding the diabolic nature of Islam on a regular basis. I found even though I
spelled enough beans regarding immoral and brutal nature of Muhammad, the
Islamic prophet is still considered a great administrator in his book.

Regarding
the conversion to Islam in US prison systems he gave me a very interesting
rationale. He said those African-Americans behind the bar do not have any
future; the prisons fail to reform them. If Islam or any thing can give them
little hope or mold them to be a non-criminal, what is wrong with it? He
understood that Islam has too much rituals like five times prayers, vodhu etc.

His analogy is Islam has "boot camp" type ritual which is needed to
straighten a
rotten apple. I understood his logic. By the same token, Hare Krishna, if
allowed, could have a field day in the US prison systems. What do you think?

Somewhere in USA

March, 10, 2001

Hello Mr. Sina,

I read your site. I also read how your site was shut
down by Tripod. I enjoyed reading the page where you described how
Tripod showed cowardice by buckling under pressure.

Let me tell you that I agree with you that what you are
doing for Islam is what Bertrand Russell did for Christianity. Your efforts will
help make Islam tolerant.

In my childhood I read Russell and other writers. I stopped
believing in religious superstitions and myths. I visit Hindu Temples but I do
not believe in the rituals. The priests make money from our believes in
the rituals.

The Muslims have been badly brainwashed. I have a neighbour
who takes his sons to the Mosque whole day Saturday. He is brainwashing them so
they grow up having blind faith in Islam.

Anyway whatever I can do for you I will do. Let me
know if you need financial help. Send me your address and I will send you
donation to help in your cause.

I would rather give money to you than to the religious
groups who are always asking for donation. I will also contact some
politicians and bring to their attention death threats against you.

Keep in touch.

BARRY

Dear Barry,

Thank you for your encouragement and
your generous financial offer. At this moment my costs are very low and I
believe I can manage it on my own. However in future I wish to create a radio
program and it would be then that I would need financial help. But thanks for
the offer anyway.

What I would need at the moment is
more materials to publish. I would like to have scholarly written articles to
expand the site. If you can help in that regard I would be much obliged. Your
article will be reviewed by a small committee and if approved will be published.
Another way to help is to advertise the site among your friends.